Details on police prostitution busts along Aurora

Seattle police released few details Thursday afternoon about the vice unit raid late Wednesday night near 11th Avenue and East Pike Street. Police entered an apartment building that’s also the location of a bar and spa.

“We served some search warrants last night as part of a lengthy investigation, which still remains active and ongoing,” police spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said. “We still have additional investigating to do at this time and we are not able to comment.”

The affidavit for the warrant, which detailed multiple locations, was not made public in court files Thursday.

However, reports from another vice squad effort – weekend prostitution detail along Aurora Avenue North – were obtained Thursday by seattlepi.com.

Friday through early Sunday morning, police arrested at least seven young women, including two juveniles, for investigation of prostitution.

One of the juveniles was missing from Olympia.

The first arrest detailed in the reports happened about 10:40 a.m. Friday in the 200 block of Dexter Avenue North. The second arrest, a 17-year-old Renton girl, was detained after she offered a sexual act for money to an undercover detective in the 200 block of Sixth Avenue North.

Police booked her into the Youth Service Center when her father could not be reached.

The next arrest in the effort happened in the 600 block of Thomas Street – “an area of high prostitution activity, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights,” according to a police report.

Police noticed a 19-year-old wearing a short skirt looking into cars that drove by. She didn’t have identification or a permanent address, telling police she was staying in Aurora Avenue hotels.

At the West Precinct, the young woman gave the number for a family member who verified her age. The family member told police she was very concerned for the young woman’s safety because the last time she had called “she indicated that she was being held in Seattle against her will and forced to work the streets as a prostitute,” according to a report.

The arrested woman told the officer “that she was no longer feeling like she had to stay in Seattle and that the guy that she was having problems with gave her her belongings back, but that she was never held against her will,” according to the report.

The woman, who told police she was leaving for Oregon, was released from the precinct with a warning for prostitution.

The fourth arrest, a woman either 29 or 30, also occurred in the 200 block of Dexter Avenue North.

About 11:15 p.m., a vice unit detective arrested a 17-year-old girl in the 8500 block of Aurora Avenue North after she agreed to perform a sex act for money. Seattle police learned details of her missing-person case investigated by Olympia police and booked her into the Youth Service Center.

The sixth arrest, a woman in her early 30s, occurred about 10:40 p.m. near the intersection of Eighth Avenue North and John Street. The seventh arrested happened a few minutes after midnight Sunday at North 135th Street and Aurora Avenue North.

Such Seattle police prostitution stings are not uncommon. Earlier this year, detectives conducted a prostitution sting near the West Precinct at 810 Virginia Street.

Last month, vice unit detectives found violations at Rick’s strip club in Lake City and at the unaffiliated Little Darlings strip club, one of the city’s five licensed adult cabarets.

They also did undercover efforts busting scalpers outside Mariners and Sounders games last month.